Best way to repair and paint large metal roof

I have been contracted to repair and paint the metal roof of a building 115 x 52 feet. It has some rust spots but has not rusted through. I am considering painting it with Rusteleum Primer and then Cool Seal. This is an important job and I need to do it correctly.

The metal is original to the building which was built in 1969 and has had virtually no repairs except for me fixing a couple of small leaks this year. If this job is not done soon though the rust will begin rusting all the way through and they will have major problems.

Since this is the newspaper building where my wife works for we want to make doubly sure this job is done well and correctly.

Answers

Roy:

Even though you have the contract, I'd try to talk them into
letting you completely replace the roof with the new 3' wide roofing
sheets. The enamel is baked on, and they should last for many, many,
many years if properly installed.

All they are doing with patching and painting is delaying the
inevidable (sp?). As you noted, a single leak can cause major
problems.

On my hay building I painted with the best roof paint I could
find. It lasted less than a year before rust through. Neighbor had
his spray coated by a local guy and is so far pleased with the
results.

Roy: All I can give you is my own experience. Several years ago I had
a building with a galvanized, corregated roof. It was starting to
rust thru the galvanizing. I replaced a few nails that had worked
loose then simply coated the roof with Alumacoat, the same stuff
thats used on mobile home roofs. Its not a forever fix but its
relatively inexpensive and will last several years, especially, I'd
think, if you primed the rust with Rustoleum as you suggested.

It is quite likely that you will not be able to please these folks at
all no matter what you do, especially if they are the original owners
of the building.

They have waited for 32 years now, and are thinking 1969 prices for a
fast paint job should fix everything. Anything that you give them
above and beyond that is probably a waste of time on your part. Not
many parts of a building can be ignored for 32 years and then
get "quick fixed" by the local painter/handyman. I do not have any
way to know what your bid price is, but I would bet it was rather
low, and this is what they are looking for. I doubt that quality will
imperss them much. Usually 120% for a nickel on the dollar is what
these folks want.

Paint the roof. Make it look as good as you can. Get off the roof,
and get paid. Then get gone as soon as possible, and yes the rust
will pop through in a year of so. That is because it is rust, and it
has been rust for the last 30 years or so (they know that). You
however will be the bad guy who used that cheap paint that just
washed off. So do the job, get paid, and get gone. Good luck.

I agree with John and Stan, you can use a silver mobile home
roof paint or you can get the silver fibered roof paint, the latter
will help fill any small holes where nails have come up. Also if you
see any nails lifted up don't just hammer them back in, replace them
with a nail which is a little longer and has a rubber washer,
galvanized or aluminum. This fibered roof coating will adhere to the
rusted material quite well. Fix any big holes in roof first.

I'm not familiar with Cool Seal. Steel roofs are high maintance
roofs, They should always be checked for loose pannels, etc. the wind
and climate plays heck on them, especially if they aren't well
ventilated.

Roy, pie in the sky for a 7 to 9 thousand dollar reroof, like Ken
wants, but if its to big for you to handle we love reroofs :)

Anyway use the product Oshpro, (email me if you haven't a clue what I
am talking about, and I will go get the container) anyway you paint
it on the rust and it turns the rust against itself and stops the
rust. Then paint it with an aluminum paint, make sure it doesn't
drip down onto the building, sidewalks around it, etc. If you use
the product exactly like the warranty states, you should be able to
give the folks the warranty card for them to have some leverage
should the rust come back quickly. At least you will have done the
best job you know how, and acted professional.

Here's one for the other Handymen, ever read the warranties on
asphalt shingles? Did you know in Texas, because of our humidity
that they do not warranty the shingles? Did you know if you don't
roof during certain temps that it voids the warranty? And did you
know that you must keep each tag off of each bundle? How about
having to keep each blue tag off of the end of each piece of treated
lumber? Reading and keeping up the warranties is one of my jobs!

I should add, the stuff hillybilly mentioned with the fiber is the
stuff I was referring to. At this stage of the game I'd guess the
customer should get used to the idea that periodic maintenance is
gonna be the name of the game unless they wanna replace the metal
with new metal.

I have a pole barn, errected in 1977, with a galavinzed corrugated
steel roof. The roof panels had moderate to severe rusting, many of
the old roofing nails had popped up and where the roof had leaked the
wood underneath was rotten. After repairing the supporting wood under
the roof I used a product, "Must for Rust"(Supreme Chemicals,
(800)466-7162), that chemically converted the existing rust. I looked
at a product made and sold by Gemplers,(800)382-8473, and another one
sold by State Chemicals (lost the brochure). The Must for Rust had the
best price in 5 gallon drums, and didn't have any chemicals in it that
would scare me off, and was thin enough to use through a hand held
sprayer. After applying the rust converter (it turned the rust white)
I pulled all the popped nails, replaced with longer screws that had a
cap with a neoprene gasket, sealed all the new screws and old unpopped
nails and the seams with a product made by Karnak ,
AR-Elastomeric(800)526-4236, and then coated the roof with another
Karnak product, a rubberized alum. roof coating. I ended up spending a
lot more time and money on the roof than I had planned ($600-$700) but
a new roof was out of the question. In the past, on other roofs, the
mobile home type fiber roof coatings have only lasted 1 to 3 years.
The Karnak sales rep said I should be able to go at least 6 years
before recoating and some of his customers were getting 8 to 10 years.
We'll see, I really dislike fooling with any roofing work.